BY JEFFREY YOUNG
PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHEN VOSS
The reception area at Johns Hopkins Hospital’s cheerfully
decorated adult emergency department was only about
half full, the state-of-the-art trauma rooms were empty,
and many of the patient beds were unoccupied on a recent, steamy summer weekday morning. But that’s not
the norm for this 123-year-old institution, which opened
a glittering new hospital in April. Every month, close to
5,000 adult patients are treated in the emergency department of the downtown Baltimore hospital. Some have
major health problems — gunshot wounds, heart attacks,
traffic accidents — while others have more minor issues
they’re hoping to get taken care of quickly. But many of
these patients are simply looking for a doctor, any doctor,
and this is the only place they believe will serve them.
The law requires hospitals to
provide emergency treatment
to anyone who comes through
their doors whether they can pay
or not, which is good for people
who have no health insurance or
can’t get a doctor’s appointment.
But that’s not really what hospital emergency departments are
built to handle, said P